Public Services Bolster Youthful Growth

Inclusive Youth Leadership

Xie Feixun explained that the success of the EGE program depends on sponsorship from the “Starbucks China Youth Leadership Development Program” which gave them their RMB 5,000 initial funding and professional training and guidance.

Kids read English-language picture books with foreign volunteers.

Last April volunteers first came to Jinshazhou in Guangzhou, the largest subsistence housing community. There senior residents tutored overseas students in Chinese calligraphy. Local residents were so happy with their creative idea that they composed a couplet incorporating a volunteer’s name, Ailan, to express their good wishes to foreign friends. The children organized a talent show in which they performed on traditional Chinese musical instruments such as the Hulusi (gourd pipe) and guzheng (Chinese zither), and also gave folk dancing displays.

“I didn’t play with foreigners because I didn’t know how to speak English.” Although shy at first, local children soon made friends with foreign volunteers, and both boys and girls joined them in singing English songs, playing games, and learning English words and phrases.

Jordan and Elaine, a couple from Ireland, plan to study in China for one semester. They often take the one-hour subway ride to do volunteer work in local communities. “These children are amazingly gifted in both musical and dancing talent. Teaching them games is truly rewarding,” Jordan said.  Elaine agreed, “I am delighted to be able to volunteer here in China. These children are blessed with unbelievable talents!” Both Jordan and Elaine work as teachers in their motherland. They would like to take works of calligraphy back to Ireland and so link the hearts of the children of the two nations that are 25,000 kilometers apart.

“I am always touched by the warm exchanges between Chinese volunteers and their foreign partners. Volunteers from different countries with the same goals converge, and no language barrier could possibly dampen our enthusiasm,” Xie Feixun said.

To guarantee the sustainability and quality of public services, Xie Feixun and his team have compiled a guide to reading English picture books. After carefully selecting 10 picture stories, they have successfully run five training sessions, all well received. They also devised a course on creative thinking, based on authentic overseas teachings and text books from which they amassed around 50 scientific experiments. One team member regularly updates the original sound recordings of English stories that feature in the program’s official WeChat account, two new pieces per day.

Not only foreign students and local communities but also EGE team members benefit from the program. Huang Jiaming told China Today, “My oral English was not at all fluent until the program provided me with the opportunity to practice it. I am now much more confident, and feel there are no barriers to my communication with foreigners.”

Their understanding of volunteering in public services is that it is enjoyable, relaxed and rewarding, and at the same time they hope to help others, learn from others, according to Xie Feixun. “This could be the new model and concept for popularizing social welfare in China,” Xie Feixun said.